Do You Know that You Know that You Know?

Can you REALLY know that you are saved? Peter encourages you to "make your calling and election sure" (2 Peter 1:10), and he explains how you can know that you know that you know you have eternal life in his book of 2 Peter.

Have you received faith from God? (v. 1) You cannot come to God unless God himself enables you and gives you the gift of faith. (John 6:44, 65) If your faith is weak, ask Him to strengthen it!

Is your faith precious to you? Are God's promises precious to you? (v. 1, 4) If your faith and God's promises are truly precious to you, then your life WILL be changed.You will purify your life from everything that contaminates your body and spirit, and you will give it your all to live a perfect and holy life. You will revere God. (2 Cor 7:1)

If none of this describes you, then you are NOT saved. If you DO revere God, and your faith IS precious to you, then God's divine power has given you "everything you need for life and godliness." (2 Peter 1:3) Does this mean the race is over and your work is done? No. Peter says you will want to "make every effort to add to your faith." Receiving salvation through faith is the basic model. Now you can receive the upgrades: goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, and love. And these are not one-time upgrades; you can have all of them "in increasing measure" when you keep on growing in your faith and knowledge of God and his righteousness. (2 Peter 1:5-9) Why would anyone settle for the basic package? Who would want to be ineffective and unproductive in their Christian life? Not me! And I don't think you want to either.

What are some practical ways to insure that you are saved and that you are effective, productive, and increasing your upgrade potential?

1. Stop right now and ask God to fill you with his divine power. Ask others to pray with you. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (James 5:16) When you ask in faith, God answers this prayer!
2. Study the Bible daily. How else can you grow in your knowledge of Him?
3. Find a godly mentor and ask him or her to help you add to your faith. Whose Christian walk do you admire? Ask that person to help you learn to be effective in God's Kingdom.
4. Be a mentor to a new believer. Making disciples is the only way you will be productive in your faith walk. If you don't know how to make disciples, refer to point #3, and ask your mentor.

Are you tired of living a mediocre faith life? Then read God's Word and put it into practice. The life improvements are 100% guaranteed!

How to Make Your Pastor Angry

Most pastors today would much rather preach about the love of God than the wrath of God. However, if you mess with their people, you better watch out! When Jude sat down to write his letter, he had every intention of focusing on the positives so he could encourage the believers to enjoy the rewards  of their salvation. Instead he was compelled to write a scathing letter condemning the men who were dividing the church. If you want to make your pastor angry, do something to stir the pot and try to divide the church body.

Jude's anger and frustration is evident in the way he described his opponents. He said their condemnation was certain, and he called them sneaky, godless, immoral, dreamers, slanderous accusers, abusive, ignorant, blemished, self-centered, ungodly sinners, grumblers, fault-finders, evil, braggarts, flatterers, and scoffers. Jude compared the divisive men to Cain, Balaam, and Korah, all men who were judged for their rebellion against God. He said they were like "shepherds who feed only themselves, clouds without rain, trees without fruit and uprooted--twice dead, wild waves, and wandering stars." In a nutshell, Judge considered these divisive men to be good for nothing and headed to hell in a hand basket!

Jude began and ended his short letter with encouraging words for believers. He called them dear friends and told them they were called, loved, and kept by God in Jesus. He wanted them to build up their faith, to contend for their faith, and to pray in the Holy Spirit. He wanted them to keep themselves in God's love and to wait for God's mercy and eternal life. He told them to show mercy to some but to fear those who would divide their fellowship. Jude packed such wisdom in his brief 25 verses. I wish he had kept writing!

What can we learn from Jude? Do not be divisive. (It makes your pastor really angry!) Stand up for your faith. Stay faithful and wait for God's mercy. Jude concluded his writing with this beautiful doxology.

"²⁴ To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— ²⁵ to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."

What Are You Gonna Do About It?

"I'm telling you, it's never been this bad."
"It wasn't like this when we grew up."
"Kids today . . . ."

Please forgive me for offering my opinion here, but I am growing weary of these comments. I agree that times are hard, but I must remind you that there is nothing new under the sun. We are living in times of economic hardship and political unrest, but every era has been impacted by catastrophic circumstances. The Great War. The Great Depression. Slavery. Child Labor. The Holocaust. The Civil War. The Crusades. We must admit that our world is under the influence of evil forces, but there have always been tragic periods of history.

 photo credit: https://imgflip.com/i/120trj

So, my question is, "What are you gonna do about it?" I can assure you that standing around complaining is not helpful. It may seem overwhelming to think about changing our world, but if we each do our part, we can make a difference. You may have heard the analogy of the boy throwing starfish into the ocean when he found them washed up on the beach. He was questioned by an old man who told him he could never make a difference, but the boy tossed another starfish into the water and said, "It made a difference to that one." The moral of the story is that we cannot become discouraged by the vastness of our mission. Instead, we must focus on the positive difference we can make in the life of one person at a time, one day at a time. One of my current mantras is, "I can only do what I can do, one day at a time."

Again, my question is, "What are we doing about it?" We find a positive example in the book of Titus, Chapter 2. Paul instructed Titus to teach others, to mentor them in wise living. Did Paul expect Titus to teach the whole world? No. He challenged him to teach the people he knew. The people Titus taught were then expected to teach others. Titus was charged with training the trainer. And that my friend, is where we fall short in our churches today. We sit in our comfy chairs on Sunday mornings and soak up the teaching of the lead pastor. Then we go our merry ways and come back to sit and soak the next Sunday. We sit. We soak. We sour. Our current church model is that it's the preacher's job to study the Word and distribute it to the masses. We are missing the point! It's okay to enjoy a great sermon, but if you never pass it on, then you are like the sour sponge sitting by the sink that never gets "squoze." (Squoze is a word coined by my sweet husband in one of his most memorable sermon illustrations.)

Paul told Titus to teach the old men and women, who could then pass on the teaching to the young men and women. Be teachable and then teach others the lessons God is teaching you. As Dave Ramsey says, "It's not rocket surgery." The trouble is that Satan convinces us that we do not have anything valuable to pass on to the next generation. We know we don't have life figured out; so we feel inadequate to tell others how to do life. That's baloney! Young people need to hear your stories. They need to know that life was hard for you too, but that God is faithful and will bring them through tough times.

Instead of complaining about "these kids today," will you choose a kid to mentor? You just might be surprised at how much you will learn from each other.